There are many types of beverage dispenser devices in use. Their ease of use, ability to dispense a variety of beverages from one machine, and low maintenance requirements give them great appeal to anyone wishing to provide a selection of beverages in a self-service environment.
A typical beverage dispenser can be found in US 2008/0206429. This patent application describes a beverage dispenser that mixes one or more additives such as flavourings with a base liquid.
The controller within the dispensing machine receives a selection of desired flavoured beverage from a human operator or user of the dispenser via a user interface.
The dispenser then mixes the drink according to set instructions that are stored in a storage device within the machine. A set of instructions for mixing each drink available to the user are stored within the storage media.
This type of dispenser is only designed to deal with a relatively small selection of drinks, typically with each one being a different flavour for the user to choose from.
US 2007/0073557 A1 discloses a system for making and delivering genetically-based personalised nutrient and supplement mixtures.
This document introduces the idea of dispensing a customised beverage that is prepared based on the genetic profile of the user using genetic analysis and is mainly directed to using liquid ingredients. Tests have shown that ‘wet’ protein at the concentration required is not stable for use in these types of dispensers and can cause a large amount of bacteria build-up. The use of powdered ingredients is also proposed.